Much improved driver interruption---------------------------------Most possible loops have been broken and signal detectionhas been improved.In most cases the driver can be aborted by ^C (SIGINT) andSIGKILL (kill -9) will generate be a sure kill.(Note that aborting a tape operation may damage the lastdata written to tape)Improved error recovery-----------------------Ftape now returns an error (ENODATA) to the application ifa segment proves to be unrecoverable and then skips thebad segment.This causes most applications to continue to work (tarand afio) loosing only a small amount (up to 29 Kb) of data.Retried read operations will now be done slightly off-trackto improve the chance of success. Serious head off-trackerrors will be detected.FC-10 and FC-20 controllers---------------------------Ftape now supports both the old CMS FC-10 and the newer FC-20controllers.Because the operation of these cards is still undocumented,thus far they will only work with the default settings (SeeMakefile). Any feed-back on how to use them with other settingswill be welcome !Compilation will fail if one changes the settings to illegalvalues.Kernels and compilers---------------------Ftape is currently being developed using the 2.5.8 compiler.The older 2.4.5 probably works too (Set option in Makefile!).I have no experience with any later compilers nor Elf support.Any information on this is welcome.The latest kernel I have tested ftape with is 1.2.6.Compression-----------An impressive collection of changes for ftape includingon-the-fly compression is still lying on my desk.If 2.03 proves to be reliable I might start integrating thesebut as usual, I'm short in time :-(Formatting----------There is still no way to format tapes under Linux. As far asI know all attempts to write such a program have died now.Since formatted tapes are rather common now, I think all weneed is a utility that writes a worst case pattern and verifiesthat with the drive put in verify mode, reducing margins.Any takers ?Furthermore-----------Cleaned up messages.Prepared to support multiple tape drives on one fdc.Thanks to all the people who sent bug reports and helped meimprove the driver. Without trying to be complete I'll mentionGary Anderson (without his accurate reports and unreliablehardware there wouldn't be a 2.03), Stefan Kneifel (FC-20),Robert Broughton (FC-20, you were almost there ;-), BjornEkwall (for the versioned modules and buggy insmod ;-), PeterFox, Christopher Oliver, Ralph Whittaker and not the leastLinus Torvalds (for Linux and keeping me busy because ofchanges to the kernel ;-)Thanks to anyone I forgot, for the bug reports, the ftapebashing and the mental support...That's it for now. Have Fun,Bas.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02g, 06/05/95 =====- Added extra test to break read-id loop with signal.- Changed rewind code to handle negative overshoot for drives  that take very long to start or stop.- Let use of get/set i/o-regions depend on kernel version.- Changed code to use a more general test for conditional  compilations depending on kernel version.- Improved micro-step functionality to go off-track only  while reading (id & data).- Added failure on tape-not-referenced bit in ftape_command.- Added FOREVER option to read-wait routine.- Changed read-id to use shorter timeout causing smaller  rewinds on timeout.- Made kernel-interface functions static.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02f, 03/05/95 =====- Added support for dual tape drives on my system, extended Configure  script to detect host 'dodo'.- Log media defect in history if ecc failed and no data was returned.- Fixed Configure script that was failing for kernel versions with  double digit version or revision numbers.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02e, 01/05/95 =====- Fixed reposition loop at logical eot (failing read_id).- Fixed 34 segment offset when rewinding.- Added fast seek capability for more than 255 segments.- Fixed wrong busy result from ftape_command causing reverse  seek to fail.- Added breakout from infinite rewind loop (if something fails).===== Release notes for ftape-2.02d, 30/04/95 =====- Improved abortion on signals: Interrupt will make a graceful  exit, Kill will be less nice and should be used if everything  else fails.- Included check for tape-head off track.- Implemented exit from tape-start loop.- Added kernel io-port registration.- Implemented skip of failing segment (ENODATA) on ecc failure.  This allows afio and tar to continue when the tape is damaged.- Made distinction between drive names with different codes.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02c, 22/04/95 =====- Fixed too tight command queueing after tape stop/pause command  issued from within interrupt service routine (Showed as timeout  on Acknowledge errors during retries on some systems)- Tried to fix timeouts when using 425 ft tape because the extended  length doesn't seem to be detected by the hardware.  We now use the format code from the header segment so adjust the  timing after reading the header segment.- Fixed some messages stating 'unexpected something...' being not  unexpected anymore.- Started preparations for merge of dynamic buffer allocation and  compression code.- Changed some debug messages to include relevant segment information  at level 4.- Included early bail-out when drive offline, preventing a lot of  false messages.- Moved ftape_parameter_xxx() offsets into function instead of in calls.- Removed 'weird, drive busy but no data' error when caused by  an error during a read-id.- Improved 'timeout on acknowledge' diagnostics.- Moved MODULE option into Configure.- Reduced code size when no tracing at all was set (Claus Heine).- No longer log error code 0 (no error) as an error.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02b, 09/04/95 =====- Relaxed timing for status operation and displaying  abnormal results. Hopefully this shows what's going  wrong with the Conner TSM850R drives.- Created script for configuration, using version number  of kernel source if available, otherwise /proc/version.- Fixed conditionals in kernel-interface.c.- Removed unavoidable TRACE output.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02a, 01/04/95 =====- Implemented `new-style' (versioned) modules support for new  kernels.- Reduced size of module by moving static data to bss.- Now using version number of kernel source instead of running  kernel for kernel versions >= 1.1.82- Added feedback on drive speeds to vendor information.- Included fixed insmod sources to distribution (Let's hope  the modules distribution get fixed soon :-/).Note that I haven't yet implemented any of the code extension Ireceived. I hope to find some time to do this soon.===== Release notes for ftape-2.02, 15/01/95 =====- Fixed failing repositioning when overshoot was incremented.- Fixed rate selection: Because of a deficiency in the QIC-117  specification one cannot distinguish between a not implemented  and a failing command. Therefor we now try to find out if the  drive does support this command before usage.- Fixed error retry using wrong offset in fdc-isr.- Improved retry code to retry only once on a single no-data  error in a segment.- Validate sector number extracted from eof mark because an  invalid file mark (due to ???) could cause kernel panic.- Split ftape-io.c into ftape-io.c and ftape-ctl.c files.- Corrected too high media error count after writing to  a bad tape.- Added #include <asm/segment.h> again because old kernel versions  need it.- Fixed fdc not being disabled when open failed because no tape  drive was found.- Fixed problem with soft error in sector 32 (shift operator with  shiftcount 32 is not defined).===== Release notes for ftape-2.01, 08/01/95 =====- Removed TESTING setting from distributed Makefile.- Fixed `mt asf' failure: Rewind was deferred to close which  overruled the fsf ioctl.- Prevented non-interruptible commands being interrupted.- Added missing timeout.pause setting.- Maximum tape speed read from drive type information table.  If the information is not in the table (0) the drive will  determine the speed itself and put a message in the logfile.  This information should then be added to the table in the  vendors.h file (and reported to me).- Added call to ftape_init_drive after soft reset for those  (antique) drives that don't do an implicit seek_load_point  after a reset or power up.- Don't try to set data rate if reset failed.- Prevent update of seek variables when starting from the  beginning or the end of the tape.- Fixed wrong adjustment of overshoot in seek_forward().- Added sync to Makefile (again).- Added code to diagnose timer problems (calibr.c).- Replaced time differences by timediff calls.- Removed reference to do_floppy from object for recent kernels.- Fixed wrong display of 'failing dma controller' message.- Removed various no longer used #include statements.- Added max. tape speed value to vendor-struct.- Changed ftape-command to check pre-conditions and wait  if needed.- Further updated qic117.h to rev G.- Combined command name table and restrictions table to one.  Extended this table with some new fields.- Increased timeout on Ack timer value and included code to  report out of spec behaviour.- Increased rewind timeout margin to calculated + 20%.- Improved data rate selection so it won't fail on some  older (pre standard) drives.- Changed initialisation code so drive will be rewound if the  driver is reloaded and the tape is not at bot.- Moved some of the flush operations from close to the ioctls.- Added exit code value to failing verify area message.- Loop until tape halted in smart-stop.- Fast seek handled specially if located at bot or eot.- Being more conservative on overshoot value.===== Release notes for ftape-2.00, 31/12/94 =====  The Install-guide is completely rewritten and now also includessome information on how to use the driver. If you're either newto ftape or new to Unix tape devices make sure to read it !  If you own a pci system and experience problems with theftape driver make sure to read the README.PCI file. It containssome hints on how to fix your hardware.  For anybody who hasn't noticed: The version number of thedriver has been incremented (The latest released version hasbeen version 1.14d).  This has been done for two major reasons:  o  A new (better) error recovery scheme is implemented.  o  Support for new drive types has been added.  All these improvements/changes will probably include a coupleof new (and old?) bugs. If you encounter any problems that you thinkI'm not yet aware of, feel free to send a report to <bas@vimec.nl>.  I recommend keeping a version of ftape-1.14d available, justin case ;-)  This version should work with all kernel versions from 1.0.9 upto 1.1.72 (and probably earlier and later versions too).Major new features:- Better handling of tapes with defects: When a sector repeatedly  (SOFT_RETRIES in ftape.h) cannot be written to or read from it is  marked as an hard error and gets skipped.  The error correction code can handle up to three of these hard  errors provided there are no other errors in that segment (32 Kb).  - Allows writing to tapes with defects (although the risk of loosing  data increases !)  Look for the media-defects entry printed with the statistics when  the tape is closed. A non-zero value here shows a bad tape.  [the actual count is wrong (too high), this is a known bug].- Use of backup header segment if first one is failing.- Support for extended length tapes with QIC-80: both 425 and 1100 ft.  0.25 inch tapes are now recognized and handled.- Support for new QIC-80 drives with 8 mm `wide' tapes (e.g. Conner  TSM 420).- Support for new QIC-3010 and QIC-3020 drives (experimental) with  both 0.25 inch and 8 mm tapes.Some minor features were added, a couple of small bugs were fixed andprobably some new ones introduced ;-).[lseek() didn't make it into this version]Have fun,Bas.---- LocalWords:  ftape MCONFIG mt VFS zftape resp sftape proc subdir MTIOCVOLINFO LocalWords:  MTIOCGETSIZE BOT EOD MTBSF zft kerneld modprobe kdtime contrib TR LocalWords:  MTSETBLK afio uninstall texi www EIO QIC init sft eof aka dma GB LocalWords:  SIGKILL MTIOCFTCMD mmap Iomega FDC fdc io gnumt mtio fc asm inb LocalWords:  outb ft qic frontend TeXinfo irq mach MODVERSIONS CONFIG html dvi LocalWords:  usr doc SMP Mb Dunno FIXME vtblc perl listtape volinfo fsf MTWEOF LocalWords:  amanda degaussed ComByte DoublePlay whraven njackn com MTIOC vtbl LocalWords:  GETBLKSZ MAKEDEV zftape's linux dif CVS Revison cp MTREW MTOFFL LocalWords:  MTFSF BSF Marcin Dalecki GCC Config cpio swapout Kai Harrekilde LocalWords:  Pederson khp dolphinics Justus claus momo rwth aachen Laarhoven